Just a girl out to prove that true strength comes from within.

Tag Archives: family medicine

First, let me say that family medicine has exceeded all my expectations and has surprised me more than any other of my rotations. I have met who I consider to be some of the best doctors on this rotation. And because of that, I began running a little mini survey. I decided to find out what makes these doctors so great. I’ve polled patients, the nurses, fellow med students on rotation, and even the residents and attendings. I’ve asked what they think makes a great doctor.

Here’s some of my favorite quotes:

Patient – “I think Dr. X is a great doctor because I feel like I can tell him anything and he will actually care enough to take care of it or send me to someone who can. He’s the first doctor who sees me as a person, not their 10:30 HTN recheck”

Patient – “You know, I’ve got 6 different doctors for all my problems. And I won’t say that Dr. X is the smartest one cause you know, those cancer doctors are really smart (here I just laughed). But I still think Dr. X is the greatest doctor of them all. (I asked why?). Why? Well because she respects me and I respect her. And mostly because every time I see her she’s smiling and happy to see me. That means a lot.”

Nurse – “I’ve worked at a lot of different clinics throughout my 30 years as a nurse and trust me when I say I have never worked with a better group of physicians. It’s everything from the way they treat the nurses as equals to the hoops they’ll jump through to help patients. You can see that they genuinely love their job and their patients are important to them.”

Resident – “What stands out about the attendings here is that they are constantly learning the newest treatments and management plans. They want to be sure their patients are getting the cutting edge care. Most of our patients are Medicare/Medicaid/uninsured but never has that made the attendings treat them any differently. They are amazing doctors because they see every patient as equal and strive to give them the best care they possibly could receive (even the difficult patients).”

So what I’ve learned most from my family medicine rotation (which is saying something because I am really great at HTN, DM, HLD, hypothyroid, COPD, and musculoskeletal problems now) is that the key to being a GREAT doctor is to love what you do. The love you have for you branch of medicine will show through in your day to day life whether that’s in the hospital, the OR, or the clinic. Patients, at the end of the day, want to feel cared about. They don’t care if you’re the smartest or the most well-known or whether you are a neurosurgeon or a PCP – they just want you to care about them.

So a big THANK YOU to all of the amazing residents and attendings on my family med rotation who have treated this med student not as a nuisance, but as a vital member of the team. My opinions and plans have actually been put in place, everyone makes sure I’m learning everyday, and everyone has really made the clinic feel like home to me.

Just two more days left in family, and it’s going to be sad saying goodbye to such a great rotation!